As a Peace Corps volunteer one of the options for work is to find a need in our communities, create a project responding to that need, find funding, and finally implement it. Since being here I have seen a huge need for computer skills in the people that I live and work with.

In response to this I began work with a local school to create a project to build a community computer center. The project throughout the past couple of months has changed and morphed to something that we are all very excited to get off the ground.

Sadly we need to find a little over $10,000 to put it into place. There is a program called Peace Corps Partnerships where volunteers write proposals and then solicit funds for them. With no other source for that much money I decided to do that.

In a nutshell my idea is to create a community computer center that lowers the cost of learning about computers and then using them to as close to nothing as possible. To do this I have teamed up with a local private school that has agreed to take on all costs associated with the maintenance and upkeep of the center. In return for this investment they will have preferential access to the center 40% of the time. The rest of the time it will be open to the community for classes and open computer time.

Throughout my time here I have seen a number of computer centers that have been built on one of two general models: totally public and funded through a big NGO or totally private and financed completely by classes or internet use. The problem with the first model is that it requires constant funding from the NGO. In other cases where they turn management over to the local community or government, funds are mismanaged and the centers fail. The second model, while normally functional, charges upwards of $200-$400 for each class, pretty much what the average person here makes in an entire year.

With this project we have created an entirely different model based on a combination of both public and private. The school has it in their best interest to pay the bills and make sure the center works. If they chose not to they will lose the notoriety and the new students brought to them by the center. At the same time they also have it in there best interest to keep it open to the community.

Take for example our plan to partner with local public schools. We open the center each day to a different public school. Towards the end of lunch the students will begin walking to our school, take a one hour intro to computers class, and then go back to their regular studies. With 25 computers and two students to each computer each paying 200 francs CFA (about 40 US cents) for the entire eight week class the center will make a profit of 10,000 francs (about $20.) Run one class a day, five days a week and that is a sizable profit. All this money generated will be put into a computer center account, separate from that of the school’s general fund. This separation is currently being laid out in a detailed constitution that will be used to gain official NGO status from the government of Togo.

I am working with a man who wants to do a tourist guide for our city. He has done an amazing job laying the entire guide out by hand, writing all the information, and finding local business partners. The problem is that he does not have the computer skills needed and the physical access to a computer to make his project a reality. The computer center will directly respond to this need of lack of skills and access to computers. I like the idea of us being a place where people can first come and learn how to use computers then outsource their actual computer needs to us. This will allow people like the tourist guide creator and the public schools to have access to a computer just like it was sitting in their living rooms or in their own schools. We are allowing them to put the burden of acquisition, management, and upkeep of a computer on us.

We are taking this idea even further through a set of advanced classes that we are planning on offering. So far we have plans to offer video editing, music creation, web design, graphic design, and intro to programming classes. Each of these classes will offer more advanced students a chance to learn a new, marketable skill. For example, we plan on buying a number of video cameras for use by our video editing class. With the help of other Peace Corps Volunteers we will teach them how to properly shoot and edit video. After the class we will encourage them to go out into the community, advertise their services to people having weddings, funerals, and parties who want the event recorded. They will then use the centers cameras to shoot the event, the centers computers to edit and burn disks, and eventually make a profit. The same concept will be used for web design and logo creation. The center, along with being a place to learn, will also become a hub for a bunch of micro businesses. We are giving these students the knowledge and the physical resources they need to let their creativity and motivation work for them.

Last week I was training the computer teacher for a small computer center that another volunteer built in a neighboring town. After a couple hours of work we took a break. I left the room and came back to find a group of people gathered around the computer all using a multimedia encyclopedia. They started by wanting to see what it said about Togo and their own small town (not much). They listened to the Togolese national anthem, saw pictures of the capitol city, and read about its history. After exploring a bit they started to branch out to bordering countries. After looking at pictures of Ghana and Burkina Faso they got more adventuress and looked at all of Africa. Eventually they had found remote regions of Europe, listened to the first broadcast from the moon, and saw pictures of New York at night. It was an incredible experience to see these people go from their limited knowledge and experience and eventually find things that are so far from their every day lives. I realized that the main reason I want to build this computer center is not just to teach people how to use computers. I want to give the people of my community the opportunity to see what else is out there. I want them seeing what people in Europe and the US live like. I then want them to say, “Wait a second. Why do they get to live like that and we don’t?” These kids will grow up and demand more. I want to show these people that there is more out there and that they too can have it. They just need to know.

Sorry this has gone on so long. My initial intention was just to write a brief outline of the project and post it with a link to my project. The problem is that I feel so strongly about this and know it so well that I could talk for hours.

The overall cost for the project is $10,512. At the end of the proposal is a detailed budget showing exactly where the money will be going. Here is a brief chart showing amount of money given to what it will buy to give you a better idea of what your money would be going to:

198 comments:

Really interesting to stay in Togo and trying your best for the people. I appreciate you. I do not know whether I can do the same thing, I am not that patient and and maybe not enough good person as you.

i'm def. not as good a person as you, however, i have the sinking feeling that i have a lot of fun anyway. so, dude, you're like what? anyway, does eric have a blog?he's probably having more fun than the two of us combined. check me out. http://tibetnymod.blogspot.com/

Aaron Childs,I Hope life is treating you well my old friend. I am very impressed and proud to see how your life has taken you to a place where you can have such a profound impact on a people who needs your skills so very much.This is your old friend from Garrett Co, Michael Fletcher. I've been living in Salisbury, MD for the past two months with my girlfriend, I'm teaching and she's going to school at UMES to get her docterate in Physical Therapy. I recently started teaching 4th grade at a local elem school. I have a classroom library full of books that my students often read. The other day one of my students was reading and out of their book fell an invitation for one of your birthday parties held back in Bluelick Commons. The party was dated for Sat, Oct. 21, 1995, and it brought back some good memories. I just wanted to write and say Happy Birthday! I hope life is going great for you and I wish you the best of luck with your computer work in Togo. I hope you get to eat some cake, brownies, or something sweet for your bday! Anyways, take care buddy.Michael Flectcherps. Building tree forts should be an Olympic sport :)

Our company (TwoCell - www.twocell.com) has about 5 pentium III and 3 unknown systems(probably AMD systems) that we would be happy to donate. If you are interested, or need any computer services, including web hosting, for this project: let us know. Our contact info is on the site.

Forgive me for writing as a stranger, but it seems you are soliciting comments and donations from strangers, so here goes. I have spent some time in both East and West Africa, and never have I encountered happier people. I can never convince anyone in the States that this is true. "I thought they were all poor and starving," people say. But as you know from living in Togo, this is not true. Obviously, Africa is ridden with tons of problems, and it seems your heart is in the right place wanting to help them. But when I think about all of the joy and aliveness I saw every day in Africa, not one iota of it came from seeing how much better life was in Europe. In fact, the only depressed people I met were the ones who had lived in Europe. The comparison is what depresses people; that's why it's so devastating to be poor in a place like New York--you have to watch rich people walk past you every day.

So while I think your heart is in the right place, and I am all in favor of a more equitable distribution of the world's wealth, I also think you need to think more critically about why you want to bring the internet to these people. Your manifesto rings of missionary zeal, but instead of religion its modernity you want, so they can see how much better people live, and to give them hope of living like that one day. Let's be realistic--what percentage of people who see these images of abundance have a shot at obtaining that? One in a hundred? A thousand? Let's focus instead on improving the lives of the people within the context of their own culture. Study anthropology, learn more about people, respect their culture and ways of living instead of trying to make them more like us. Always the danger with the Peace Corps.

Aaron, you don't know me but I saw your Peace Corps blog on the front page of the website and had to check it out. I actually appiled to the Peace Corps about six months ago and have been nominated to go by next September. I chose North Africa and everyday that passes I get more anxious, excited, scared, worried and thrilled to go.

Any words of wisdom for us new folks joining the Peace Corps?

I hope we can keep in touch because I will have many questions to ask when the time comes, take care and hope your enjoying yourself.

anonymous,i agree with what you said about the dangers of peace corps and essentially the ethnocentrism in thinking that letting people see how well off we americans are. however, even with the somewhat jaded reasoning that, i think, many do gooders have(not just peace corps), the end results will rely on the community and how they choose to use the center. the intentions behind building the center to provide internet access are irrelevant when the actual use is concerned. So, whatever his intentions, as long as he's there and the people want the internet, they are intelligent enough to understand and decifer for themselves how to use it to their benefit. anthropology aside, this project looks like it has the support of the entire community and is very well planned. I commend you , Aaron, on your efforts..and that you are actually working to give the people what they need! Thank you for your sacrifice!

AaronHope things are going well with getting your project off the ground.

I know a resource that would be very useful and which you might be able to get for free!!!

I'm involved with a UK company called The Learning Machine, which provides an ICT assessment/certification system that dramatically lowers the barriers to ICT learning. It's called INGOT and can be viewed at www.ingots.org Look especially at "My First INGOT" (designed for young kids) and "Bronze INGOT" for slightly older kids and IT-terrified adults.

The guy who developed it is Ian Lynch, a widely respected educationalist and leading advocate in worldwide adoption of Open Source software in education. Google him and you'll see what I mean.

Just contact Ian with a few details of your project and I'm fairly sure he'll let you offer it free.

Really ambitious project. And I wasn't bored while reading that. Nice. You can set up AdSense and you'll get some money. Enough to keep stuff alive. A lot of people read your blog so they'll know what the Ads are for. NEVER GIVE UP!

I'm Robin, RPCV Cameroun Ngaoundal 84-86. I'm now in the used computer recycling and reuse business, one of the founders of www.wr3a.org

I like doing business with Africa, but it tends to let me down compared to Asia and Latin America. We do regular set ups of computer stations in Egypt, about 600 computers per month.

1) Only about 1 in ten donated PCs is legitimate to donate as working. I'm possibly interested in funding a complete recycling center in Africa, it may be easier than trying to keep only good units going there.

2) The evolution of my experience from PC volunteer to non-profit recycler to Env Prot official to digital divide prog adminstrator to eco-entrepreneur has led me away from "donation to schools". Still do it a bit, sending 500PCs to Honduras this month. But...

Over and over and over I have learned that your best bet is a for-profit small businessman who knows what the hell he is doing, preferably knows far more about computers than the best tech you can hire in the USA, get him involved early and send everything through him/her.

It's part of the micro-lending, Nobel prize, SBA for AID experience which was not hatched from ideas but from painful experiences from those of us who try to stay in the field.

Start at the port city and move inward toward the school. If you start by trying to put PCs in a poor school and think they will still be there a year from now, working, gird yourself. Not saying it won't work, but if you aspire to do this 100 times, you learn to do it in a way that leads to disappointment less than 50/100 times.

join www.wr3a.org for more cooperation and feedback and other opinions....

Fascinating project. It sounds like you have some great ideas for the people you are working with.

I am a law student in Utah, and one of my professors is an advocate of a concept called community lawyering. I'm new to the theory, but as I understand it, it means working with the whole community to find answers to the community's problems and empowering the community to solve its own problems.

I agree with the comment from Robin that is tough to maintain projects like these. This semester my community lawyering class focused worked to provide better advice to juveniles who are arrested for the first time, but one of our objectives was to find people and organizations in this area who will continue our work once we graduate, finish the class, move on to a new project etc.

I think it's great that your project is so inclusive. Keep looking for community partners and keep up the good work.

Just wanted to respond to anonymous's comment, and Sara's response.After reading the description of your project, I really liked the overall idea, and was very impressed at how much you've accomplished.I'm interested in working on similar projects, and have considered Peace Corp, but wasnt sure if it was the best route. So glad to hear you're making it work.

That being said, I did also have thoughts along the lines of anonymous' comment. Perhaps its merely a matter of wording, but the notion of showing these people how westerners are living, seems problematic in its own right. I think we're all aware of the problems in the developed world. For less developed countries to simply try to emulate would probably be disastrous locally and globally.

As I heard one tech coordinator put it, "its not that access to the internet in itself will make peoples lives better. But it enables those people in the community who wish to address local problems, to be better equipped to help the community."

So like I said, perhaps just a matter of pedantic semantics, but wanted to mention it none the less. Best of luck.

I have just had a quick look at your proposal. While it is generally a good effort, I would not urge any contributions to it untill a full sustainability business plan has been worked out.

I am part of an organisation who helps to provide computer equipment for education purposes in africa HOWEVER the major condition on the donation is that the recipiant entity proves they can maintain the donated equipment.

In your document, La Grace says it will "assume all costs" however there are no figures for:- the projected cost and timescale involved in the replacement of the machines (ie lifetime of machines and ammount to be set aside from profits each year to cover cost of replacements) - the projected electricity cost of running the computers- the projected cost of maintainence- income lines and how the school has proved that it can sustain the required computers

With all these figures in place you can show donors that the computers will not just lay in boxes and that the cost of upkeep is not greater than the projected earnings. You will also need an environmental scan, ie are internet services available nearby? at what cost? Are there techicans in the local area? etc

Please, for the sake of your project, and other computer projects in sub saharan africa, provide a full and complete business plan before you start collecting equipment.

I cannot tell you how hard it is for those of us in technology development in Africa to get funding. Many initiatives have failed, most due to fact that the project covered equipment without covering running costs, maintainence and skills development and consequently many donors are wary.

I'm sure you've thought of all this, but none of the hard calculations appear in your document. Feel free to get in touch with me for any clarifications.

this is agreat project, maybe make the donations you recieve a sponsership with that persons name on the desktop or anything that is bought on their behave with their contact info. Every person that isn't wealthy needs and wants association with something, make it your project...example: this computer was donated by.....john henry: thank him/her at makingyourlifebetter@happyplanet.com" example

cheersI'm looking for computers and hardware give me a couple of months. How could we ship a container there?

I think its great thaht youre in the Peace Corps. I had submitted my application but then I decided that I wanted to work a little more. I was looking at the Community Development track. Have you made it over to Ghana yet?? You'll also like Ghana, Im from Ghana.

I checked your blog after seeing it on the blog of note page. Good luck with the project. It seems like you are getting lots of advice and maybe some actual help. BTW, I like and have read many of the books on that reading list too. Have a good new year.

your work sounds amazing. i'm a senior in high school/freshman in college hoping to eventually join the peace corps. i confess to having very few solid plans at the moment . . . i'm in that stage where the whole future is wide open and uncertain. i would love to talk to you sometime about your experiences, let me know if you ever have time and wouldn't mind sharing a little.

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